Cowboy Basketball set for Sunday matinee with St. Thomas

ST. THOMAS (2-0) at OKLAHOMA STATE (1-0)
Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024 | 2:01 p.m. CT
Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)

Buy Tickets: okstate.com/tickets or 877-ALL-4OSU
Watch: ESPN+ (Adam Hildebrandt & Bryndon Manzer)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network & The Varsity App (Dave Hunziker & John Holcomb)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Series: First Meeting

Military Appreciation Day: The Cowboys will pay tribute to current and former service members during Sunday's game. In addition, OSU has partnered with Vet Tix to provide more than 100 free tickets to military families from around the area.

Opening Tips:

After winning its debut under head coach Steve Lutz earlier this week, OSU look to continue that momentum Sunday against St. Thomas.
Lutz joined the Cowboys after successful turnarounds at Western Kentucky (2023-24) and A&M-Corpus Christi (2021-23). He's been to the NCAA tournament in each of his first three seasons as a head coach.
Last Monday, OSU used a 50-point second half to pull away for an 89-76 win over Green Bay.
Bryce Thompson led the way with 22 points (one shy of his career high) on 4-of-5 three-point shooting, and Abou Ousmane added 16 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
The Cowboys shot a modest 42% from the field but drilled 10-of-22 threes and 21-of-24 foul shots. They also enjoyed a 43-25 rebounding advantage and scored 27 points off 19 Green Bay turnovers.
OSU's 89-78 exhibition win over SMU on Oct. 26 followed a similar script, with Thompson (24 points) draining all five of his three-point tries. The Cowboys made 14-of-28 overall from deep.
One of only three holdovers from last year, Thompson needs just 39 points to become the 45th member of OSU's 1,000-point club.
Lutz added 13 newcomers to the roster (12 transfers and one true freshman) during a whirlwind spring. Eight of them made their OSU debuts in the opener.
The 11 Cowboys who saw action on Monday have an average of 3.11 years of Division I experience. Per KenPom, only three teams (Xavier, Ole Miss, and Nevada) rolled out a more experienced opening night lineup.
Reserves accounted for 40% of the minutes.
The Cowboys had a total of 74 possessions in the opener. That's a pace they matched just three times all of last year, yet it's still more than a possession shy of the 75.4 averaged by Lutz's 2023-24 Western Kentucky squad, which led the nation in adjusted tempo.
By contrast, the Cowboys' Sunday opponent had KenPom's ninth-slowest adjusted tempo last year and averaged just 63.4 possessions.
This the first ever meeting between OSU and St. Thomas, a former Division III power based in St. Paul, Minn. The Tommies are in the fourth year of a five-year transition to Division I but have already had success, winning 20 games last season while finishing in the top half of the NET.
This is the second of three consecutive OSU home games to begin the regular season. Following Thursday's date with Southern Illinois (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+), the Cowboys will go another 34 days without a home appearance.

Green Bay Leftovers:

The Cowboys improved to 90-26 all-time in season openers with wins in 28 of their last 30.
With his debut, Green Bay's Doug Gottlieb became the 19th former OSU player to coach a team at the Division I level.
OSU forced turnovers on over a quarter of Green Bay's possessions (25.7%) as nine different Cowboys combined for 11 steals.
The Cowboys scored 27 points off of those 19 turnovers -- most by an OSU team since Nov. 22, 2021 when they piled up 34 points on 28 College of Charleston giveaways in a 96-66 win.
OSU's .889 defensive rebound percentage (27 on 30 chances) was a top-10 mark in program history (offensive boards have been officially tracked since the 1986-87 season).
OSU was nearly as good on the offensive glass, snagging 19 of 41 opportunities (.463), including 12 of 22 (.545) in the second half.
Green Bay also became just the fifth opponent in OSU history to attempt more than 60% of their field goals from behind the three-point line. 31 of the 51 Phoenix shots came from deep (.608), including 19 of 27 in the second half (.704).
OSU won despite being outshot from the field (49-42%). The Cowboys were just 3-17 last season when finishing with a lower shooting percentage than the opposition.
Bryce Thompson posted the 50th double-digit scoring game of his NCAA career. Four of those have come in OSU season openers.
Thompson also reached the 20-point mark for the eighth time in his NCAA career.

Odds and Ends:

This is the 2,999th men's basketball game in OSU history.
For what it's worth, OSU has won its last five Sunday games, helped by a 4-0 mark last year.
OSU is looking to reach 2-0 for the first time in four years. Cade Cunningham and the 2020-21 Cowboys started 6-0.

Cowboys on the NCAA Leaderboard:

OSU junior guard Aturo Dean is the NCAA's active career leader in steals per game (2.91).
Dean's 186 total steals rank 12th on the active list and are tops most among players who have been around for less than four seasons.
Dean's next assist will be the 250^th of his career.
Arkansas transfer Davonte "Devo" Davis, likewise, ranks among the NCAA's active career leaders in games played. Monday's opener was his 133rd contest (tied for 12th, as of Friday).

Scouting St. Thomas:

St. Thomas is a private catholic school located in St. Paul, Minn.
The Tommies are in the fourth year of a five-year transition to Division I with full status beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Prior to the move, the Tommies were a Division III power, winning national championships in 2011 and 2016.
Johnny Tauer was an assistant coach for the former and head coach of the latter. Now in his 13th season, he has a 269-97 career record.
The Tommies are not eligible for NCAA tournament play but have more than held their own at the DI level, finishing last year with a 20-13 record, a 159 NET ranking and a winning record in Summit League play (9-7).
St. Thomas was picked fourth out of nine teams in the 2024-25 Summit League preseason poll but must replace three starters, including a pair of second team All-Summit League performers.
In contrast to Steve Lutz's up-tempo style, Tauer's Tommies preferred a plodding pace last year. They were the nation's ninth-slowest team in KenPom's adjusted tempo rankings.
They're off to a faster offensive start this year, scoring at least 90 points in each of their first two games. They're shooting 51.6% as a team and have made over 40% of their threes (18/44).
St. Thomas will be on less than two days' rest after Friday night's 90-76 road win over the same Green Bay team that the Cowboys opened against last Monday night. The Tommies shot better than 60% from the field in both halves and led 54-35 at the break.
6-2 junior Miles Barnstable is in the midst of his own DIII-to-DI transition. The former UW-Whitewater standout has been the Tommies' scoring leader in each of the first two games and is averaging nearly a point per minutes (19.5 ppg, 21.9 mpg).
Barnstable joins a pair of returning backcourt starters in 6-foot-6 wing Kendall Blue (10.5 ppg, 2.0 spg) and point guard Drake Dobbs (11.5 ppg, 4.0 apg).
6-9, 250-pound redshirt sophomore Carter Bjerke and 6-8 Green Bay graduate transfer Rich Byhre are the veterans in a young St. Thomas front court, which also includes 6-6 redshirt freshman Ben Oosterbaan (8.5 ppg, team-best 7.5 rpg).

Matchup Mashup:

6-7 freshman Kyle Counts is grandson of Mel Counts, who played 12 years in the NBA and won two titles with Celtics. Mel was also a member of the 1964 US Olympic gold medal squad that was coached by Oklahoma State's own Henry Iba.
St. Thomas is one of three first-time foes on OSU's 2024-25 schedule, along with Green Bay and Tarleton State (Dec. 18).
St. Thomas is one of two Summit League teams that OSU will face in the non-conference portion of its schedule. Oral Roberts (picked fifth, one spot behind the Tommies) comes to Stillwater on Dec. 22.

A Cowboy win would...

Make them 2-0 for the first time since 2020-21.
Be their 62nd 2-0 start all-time.
Make Lutz 71-35 (.670) in parts of four seasons.
Give OSU a 1-0 lead in the all-time series with St. Thomas.
Push their all-time GIA record to 862-264, including 294-90 in regular season non-conference games.

Up Next:

OSU finishes up a three-game homestand Thursday night against the Southern Illinois Salukis (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
This will be fans' last opportunity to watch the Cowboys at GIA until Dec. 18 -- a span of 34 days -- as they prepare for a stretch of six straight road or neutral site contests.
Reserve your seat at okstate.com/tickets or call 877-ALL-4OSU.